


A hero after all

by Notevenwinded



Category: Captain America (2011), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-06
Updated: 2012-05-06
Packaged: 2017-11-04 22:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/399100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notevenwinded/pseuds/Notevenwinded
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A written down summary of the progression of Steve Rogers' and Tony Stark's relationship according to the events of the film.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A hero after all

**Author's Note:**

> This work contain spoilers from the movie,so if you haven't seen it yet I suggest that you don't read it now.

Their first meeting didn’t exactly turn out to be good. Neither did their second one. Or the third. In general, it didn’t meet up anybody’s expectations.

When Nick Fury stepped into the gym, filling him in all the details about Loki and the Tesseract, Steve Rogers wasn’t pleased with all the new information that he acquired. The files under the persons being called in for the Avengers Initiative however, had a little surprise in them. When he saw Tony’s name, or let’s say, surname, written, his heart filled with hope, the photo of him resembling the younger Howard Stark he personally knew. Same posture and cocky smile, Steve thought they would have a similar character as well, and it would be nice to have someone with links of his past to talk with.

***

Tony, on the other side, kept looking at Steve’s photo in his own documents, his childhood image of Captain America materialized in front of him. He saw him in action in all those SHIELD documented videos, remembered every tiny detail that Howard mentioned, not directly to him, but he did overhear it sometimes. This guy was supposed to be a hero, lost or killed from what he heard so many times before, but now it appeared that they found him. And he was well alive.

“You have a lot of homework, Tony”, Pepper sighed, leaving him alone, still looking at the different videos. That was a surprise. He personally knew about Bruce Banner’s situation, but Captain America being alive, and this godly looking fellow named Thor, SHIELD claiming that he was from a different realm, was  difficult to comprehend.

***

Like mentioned, their first meeting was right in the middle of the battlefield, fighting off Loki in Germany. A loud noise was heard, and Iron Man, in all his glory appeared from nowhere, landing in front of the Captain and aiming at Loki, who raised his hands in the air.

“Mr. Stark.”

“Captain.”

***

Those were their first words to each other, and Steve tried to approach him a bit friendlier inside the jet, while Loki being held hostage was eyeing them.

“So, you’re Howard’s son, right? I knew your father, he was a good man”, he broke the silence, looking at Tony’s profile as soon as he removed his helmet. He did resemble the elder Stark a lot.

“To you, maybe. He was really fond of you, you know”, Tony replied, his eyes set on Loki.

Steve didn’t reply, but something told him that this was quite the touchy subject. He coughed. “I don’t like this, he gave up way too easily”, he noticed, pointing at Loki with a shake of his head.

“You worry too much, old man”, Tony huffed, a confident smile spread across his face.

Next thing they knew, they could all hear the thunder and someone that could only be Thor rushed in the jet and flew outside with their prisoner.

“What just happened?”, Steve asked in confusion.

“I’m going after him”, Tony replied, quickly putting his helmet back on and heading for the opening.

“Stark, wait. We need an attack plain, we can’t just rush in”, the Captain tried to say, but it seemed like he was completely ignored.

“I have a plan. Attack”, the billionaire replied coldly, jumping off the jet and flying towards the direction of the thunder.

That’s when Steve first noticed how reckless this man was. Not accepting to work as a team, take no advice from the others. He shook his head in frustration, grabbing a parachute and getting ready to jump. It was quite the bad start, and his leader instincts were being tested. When he finally reached the battlefield, the situation was out of hand: Thor and Iron Man were fighting, destroying everything in their path.

“That’s enough! Both of you!”, he yelled, trying to be in charge and settle things.

The large blonde was however; only ready to listen to him after he was shot back when he attempted to hit Steve with his hammer. The friction between the shield and the hammer calmed down the heat.

***

Back in the Helicarrier, Loki was put under custody, but much  to everyone’s annoyance, he didn’t seem to be worried about this at all. Thinking like the soldier he was, Steve tried to gather as much information he could, especially from Thor to plan their next move, and it was then that Tony Stark walked inside the bridge, acting like he owned the god damn place. Steve threw him a couple of sharp looks as he demonstrated his excessive knowledge in a flashy way, immediately hitting it off with Bruce Banner, as they were going to work together. There was something however, that bugged Steve. This man had no intention to actually act like one of the rest; he wanted to be in charge. The way he paraded around, showing off, not respecting any of them and acting like he was best than the rest just annoyed him.

“Hey! Stop that!”, he exclaimed, as soon as he spotted the man provoking the Doctor.

“What? There’s nothing to worry about.”, Tony said calmly, walking around his desk.

“You’re risking the ship’s safety, Stark, no offence, Dr. Banner”, Steve apologised with a nod of his head.

“No, it’s fine, I can handle this”

Tony smiled at them both, but the smile was nothing close to being real. “See? Geez, capsicle, just relax”

“Is everything here a joke to you? We’re trying to save the world, Stark”, Steve replied with a cold gaze.

“If it’s funny, yes”, the billionaire chuckled.

“Can’t you be serious for one moment here?”

“I am serious, I am working if you didn’t notice. I’m trying to see what Fury is hiding from us, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to find out something big. Some things just don’t seem fine to me, Rogers. Stop thinking like a soldier for now and be more suspicious”, Tony replied, looking at him while stuffing his mouth with a handful of blueberries.

“We were assigned to do other things, and I’m sticking with that”, Steve said, looking down at him while they were standing opposite from each other.

“Following orders isn’t really my style, you know”, Tony dared to say with a cheeky grin.

“And style is all you care about, right?”, Steve replied with the same style.

“Just a reminder, I’m not the one wearing a skin tight spangled outfit here, Captain”, Tony noted, leading to Steve leaving the room with a huff.

“Is that the guy that my Dad wouldn’t shut up about?”, he heard Tony saying in the distance, that only adding to his dislike of the man’s character.

Even if he didn’t want to openly admit it, Stark was right. Something seemed off and he wouldn’t wait for him to find out, he had work to do on his own. And of course, he was right. Deep inside the Helicarrier’s armoury, he found weapons, weapons that brought nothing but bad vibes to him. He rushed back inside the lab, only to find Fury, Banner and Stark arguing. It wasn’t hard to figure out the topic of the argument.

“You’re right. They’re building weapons of mass destruction, I want to know why”, Steve demanded. “I ran off on my own, your computer was moving too slowly”, he added, dropping the gun with a large sound on the desk.

It was then when Thor and Natasha rushed inside too, adding their own opinions on the matter, Natasha mainly warning them about Bruce, and him not taking it too well.

The tension started to heat up, and next thing they knew they were arguing hard, yelling at each other. Everyone had something to say, something to use against each other.

“Back off!”, Steve said angrily, shoving Tony’s hand from his shoulder as soon as he felt his touch, not wanting anything to do with him.

“Oh, I’m starting to want you to make me”, Tony said, risking a cheeky grin.

The looks they were giving to each other were nothing but hateful, the tension being at it’s peak as soon as they started circling each other.

“Big man in a suit of armour, take that off, what are you?”, Steve asked, stopping in front of the other man, looking down at him, waiting for an answer.

The room was in silence now, the argument focusing between those two, nobody daring to say anything.

“A genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist”, Tony replied coldly. Something was off, but right now nobody would notice. This wasn’t Tony Stark’s usual kind of reply, no. It wasn’t snarky, it was a forced reply, trying to sound like his usual self, but somehow it didn’t.

“I know guys with none of that worth ten you”, Steve continued, the same confident and poisonous spark in his eyes.

That looked off too. Tony just looked into those bright blue eyes, the eyes that right now radiating something that didn’t belong to his childhood hero. No, this wasn’t Captain America in front of him, he refused to believe that.

“I’ve seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself”, the Captain continued.

This wasn’t the guy that would take every hit for the others, that hated bullies. It was hard to put Tony Stark in this situation, but he did felt compromised, bullied even by what he believed to be his hero, someone that his Dad looked up to, someone that Tony secretly aspired to be, getting Howard’s approval as a child. Suddenly, being Tony Stark, the guy that people wouldn’t stop criticizing didn’t sound bad at all. Anything but being considered the type of hero like the man dressed in blue standing in front of him.

“You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play. To lay down on a wire, to let the other guy crawl over you”. It seemed like Steve had no intention to stop, and Tony was just not in the mood to fight back, it wasn’t even worth it.

“You know, I think I would just cut the wire”, he replied calmly, his expression showing nothing but hurt, and nobody in this room would realise that. Nobody here saw Tony feeling hurt before. Nobody was inside that cave, being tortured, having the first person that believed in him killed in front of him. Nobody saw him on that roof, his eyes close as his reactor was flickering, and none saw his efforts to save the city from Hammer and Vanko. It was unfair to him, nobody, and especially not Steve Rogers had the right to make those assumptions.

Steve smiled, but he was really mocking him. Tony’s reply satisfied him, only adding to his previous statements. He looked around, like he was searching for an approval ad he turned down to him again. “Always showing off, having a way out”, he said.

“You might not be considered a threat, but you better stop pretending to be hero, Stark”, he added coldly.

At this point, Tony broke down. He was calmly replying to Steve before, trying to act cool and show his better self, but this was just too much for him. No, he never considered himself to be a hero, but he did took credit for certain things he did. And having Steve Rogers, supposedly Captain America, who fought for justice and freedom denying this, calling him a pretender, was nothing he could stand.

“A hero? Like you? You’re a laboratory experiment, Rogers”. In Tony’s mind, that sounded fair. He just became who he was in the easiest way possible, at least that’s what he knew. “Everything special about you came out of a bottle”. Maybe he was being too harsh but then again maybe he wasn’t. Tony firmly believed the latter.

The argument around them carried on, and Steve stayed silent, looking deep inside the other man’s brown eyes. He was wrong; he was nothing like his father. Every moment that he spent living in this modern world only disappointed him more; people were nothing like the old days. They were selfish, only caring about their selves, and he honestly had no idea how this team could work out.

“We’re not a team, we’re a time-bomb”, he heard Bruce saying from behind his desk, shaking his head.

“Put that suit on, let’s go a few rounds”, Steve said coldly. “Let’s see what makes you special”, he hissed, his hand reaching for him.

Tony growled, shoving the arm away like Steve did earlier. This didn’t turn out well for neither of them. The meeting between Howard Stark’s son and Captain America sounded promising, but now it was nothing but disappointing, it was like none matched each other’s expectations.

It wasn’t until Bruce started to talk, getting even angrier, only interrupted by Fury’s warning to leave Loki’s sceptre down. They were all silent for a moment, confused, and the loud explosion threw everybody on the ground.

“Put that suit on”, Steve said, this time in a less threatening way.

“Yeah, good idea”, Tony replied, rushing outside the room with the Captain, protectively helping him up, his captain-like instincts kicking in.

“Meet me outside in a few minutes”, Tony shouted at him, with Steve nodding and running against the crowd.

***

As soon as he was suited, he flew outside, giving orders at Steve, letting aside their argument for the sake of saving the Helicarrier, equally needing each other’s cooperation.

“Pull that lever, Cap!”, Tony yelled at some point, only to have himself beaten, relieved when Steve finally managed to listen to him, and Tony rushed to his side, blasting off the remaining threat. “What took you solong?”, he panted, taking off his helmet for fresh air.

“I had my hands full, you know”, Steve replied, still on the floor himself.

“Yeah, that’s why you emptied them didn’t you? You threw that guy off the ship!”, Tony snapped. “We don’t know if he was actually an enemy, he could be mind-controlled like Barton. Great way of showing off what a great hero you are, Rogers”. That part did make a bad impression to him. Having Steve lecturing him earlier on about being a hero and seeing him doing that did provoke him.  

Steve was speechless, looking at the void down under.

“And you didn’t see any of the footage; don’t try to make me look like the bad guy here. Have you seen the footage from my time in Afghanistan? I’m sure Fury keeps it around. What about that time I almost killed myself, eyes closed on a roof of a building belonging to me, trying to save up a city from exploding? I didn’t think so. Don’t talk like you know me, Rogers. I’m nothing like the people you used to know, and I’m certainly not my father”. He didn’t regret saying that out loud, he needed to vent and being in his armour made him feel less vulnerable than when they were both inside, Steve claiming to be the hero he was.

The roles had reversed right now, Steve was the one looking confused, hurt, and Tony was looking down at him, pleased to be on top again.

The moment was interrupted by Fury’s voice in their ears. “Coulson is down. They called it.”

Tony’s heart suddenly felt heavy. He stood up, leaving Steve at the spot as he moved inside, taking off his suit and sitting down, an empty stare painted on his face.

***

Tony Stark didn’t have many friends. He had Pepper and Rhodey, and that was it. He realised that Coulson was close to becoming one of them, and now he was gone. That silly smile on his face whenever they met, trying to be all business but they ended up laughing it off, was now gone. How could he tell that to Pepper? He didn’t remember Fury and Steve joining him around the table, his back turned at them.

“He had those in his jacket”, Fury said, tossing a couple of bloody trading cards towards Steve. “I guess he never got them signed”

This was ridiculous; his death shouldn’t affect him that much. And then Fury carried on talking.

“There was an idea. Stark knows that”, he told them, Tony sighed and kept his eyes away from them, even though he could feel them both looking at his back. Fury called them remarkable, clarified how they needed them to come together, work together and overcome great obstacles. He couldn’t bear this, no. He stood up, staying still as if he wanted to say something, before leaving the room.

Steve stayed silent, the card still between his fingers. He could see how hurt Tony was, maybe he could still feel something after all, and he might have been harsh to him. Thinking like the way he knew, he followed him, only to find him at the same spot that Coulson’s body was a few moments ago, the blood still visible on the wall. A soldier who lost a comrade in battle needed comfort, and as a Captain he needed to provide him with that.

“Was he married?”, he asked, leaning against the door, a safe distance being put between them.

“No, he had... something, a cellist I believe”, Tony said, snapping out of his thoughts.

“I’m sorry, he seemed like a good man”, Steve replied, nodding.

“He was an idiot”, Tony said after a pause, much to Steve’s surprise. “He tried to take on Loki all alone, he didn’t wait until someone more qualified was available, that was stupid”

“Sometimes that’s how soldiers should act-”

“We’re not soldiers, Rogers! I’m not one of Fury’s soldiers, I refuse to be called that!”, Tony snapped all of the sudden, furious with the thought that someone would even consider him being that. He didn’t like loosing his temper, in fact he hated it, and he was pretty sure Steve noticed that, as he wasn’t looking at him with the same look as before, was it concern this time? “We’ll take Loki on, and I know exactly what he has in mind”

***

After of what seemed like a century, being thrown outside his own window of his own tower by the power-driven god, back in his armour, Tony was in constant communication with the rest of the team, co-ordination their moves. They fought for so long, dropping down to meet each other and plan their moves, and Tony didn’t doubt Steve’s orders at any time. He might have argued with Steve Rogers, but right now this was Captain America, and they had to protect the world, certainly no time to argue and bicker. The team seemed to work well together, and much in everyone’s surprise, Captain America and Iron Man had a strong teamwork. At random times, Iron Man would land on, blast a couple of enemies, then turn his palms at Steve, the shield reflecting his beams, taking out more enemies.

Even with all the combined effort, everyone was getting tired, crushing down, panting.

“Guys? I can close the gate”, came Natasha’s voice.

That’s when the other call came.

“Stark, they’re sending a missile towards you. Three minutes max”, Fury called desperately.

“Guys, hold on, we have a bigger problem here”, Tony called, flying towards the water. “Nuclear missile, I have an idea of where to put it. Keep that portal open”, he said, trying hard to match the missile’s speed.

“Stark.. You know that’s an one way trip, right?”, came Steve’s voice in his ear.

“I know”, Tony said surprisingly calm.

“Should I call Miss Potts, Sir?”, Jarvis suggested.

“Might as well”, Tony muttered, as he grabbed the missile in the last moment, redirecting it towards the portal.

Their communication dropped as soon as he passed through the other side and everyone’s eyes were set on the sky, the huge explosion visible, and the aliens dropping to the ground lifeless. There was no sign of Tony, none at all.

Yet, he was still up there. The huge wave that was released pushed him back, falling down the void. The call to Pepper failed, and taking one last look at the alien ship being destroyed, he closed his brown eyes, dignified and ready to face the end.

Steve let out a sigh, knowing that he had to take this decision. Suddenly the guilt from their previous argument on board filled him in. Tony was proving him wrong, right here, right now, and he couldn’t even apologise to him.

“Natasha. Close it”, he said, in a steady voice. The portal was getting smaller, the sky appearing clean again, but all of the sudden, a silhouette dropped from it, on the very last moment. “Son of a guy”, Steve muttered, smiling widely.

“He’s not slowing down”, Thor said with concern, ready to fly up to Tony’s rescue. Before they knew it, Hulk arrived down to their level, with a rather beaten up Tony on his hands. They both ran up to him, throwing the helmet to the side, examining Tony’s state.

“Stark!”, Steve yelled, his head resting on Tony’s chest, but he couldn’t hear anything. His fingers ran across the reactor, looking at Tony with a worried, guilty look on his face. All of the sudden, he felt angry, upset. “ _I need to be the one to save your life_ ”, he thought, feeling like hitting the man on the floor hard on the chest, make him come back to them, make up for everything that happened between them, the whole misunderstanding. And there he was, ready to give up on all hope.

“What the hell??”, Tony shouted, as Hulk’s growl made everyone jump. “What just happened? I hope nobody tried to kiss me”

Steve couldn’t help but smile in relief, this time his smile being genuine and emotional. He really wished he could take all this back, Tony was nothing like the guy he judged him to be. He laughed, looking at him with a likeable face, laughing at his nervous jokes.

He didn’t have a chance to apologise, or better, he didn’t find an appropriate moment to bring this up. Much to his surprise, Tony didn’t seem to hold a grudge against him, but he really seemed like he expected something.

***

The chance was finally given when they escorted Thor and Loki, both heading back to Asgard, taking back what belonged to them. They were all dressed in normal attire, away from the uniform formality. They agreed to part ways for now, but promised to stay in touch and come together when they were needed to.

As soon as the gods disappeared, they all started to chat, saying a few last things to each other, Bruce accepting Tony’s offer to pass by the Stark Tower, Clint and Natasha suddenly talking about some top secret SHIELD missions they were going together, and next thing he knew, Tony was standing opposite Steve.

“Hey, Cap”, Tony greeted him, the sunglasses hiding his eyes.

“Steve. We’re not on duty, Tony”, Steve corrected him. “Listen, I was meant to say... That I take back what I said about you that day. I was wrong, when you flew up there, ready to die... You are a true hero, Tony Stark. You were right, you are nothing like your father... you are a better man. Just don’t be that.. reckless sometimes and I know you’ll go far”, he said with a faint smile.

“I will blame Loki for what happened, it seemed like everyone lost their calm. I was carried away as well; of course you were someone special even before the serum. Yes, unlike you, I did read all the reports. I’m not scolding you, Steve, don’t worry”, Tony added quickly, watching as Steve opened his mouth. “You’re a great man, Steve Rogers, it was an honour to meet you”

“It was my honour to fight by your side, Tony Stark. Until we meet again”, Steve nodded, offering his hand for the other man to shake.

Tony looked at him for a second, realising that they never introduced themselves formally before. “See you soon, Captain”, he nodded, taking the hand into his and shaking it.

“Of course, Mr. Stark”, Steve said as he let go of him, turning his back to ride his motorcycle, a relieved and satisfied smile on his face.

Tony watched him as he left, the image of Captain America he heard so much about replaced by Steve Rogers, another human being, a lost soul just like his, waiting for something big to happen and reunite them all again. And for the first time in his life, Tony Stark was sure about this, he knew he found his true purpose, a place where he belonged, amongst people like him, who he intended to keep close, not push away like he always did.

He smiled, got inside his car and Bruce joined him, all parting ways but knowing that this wouldn’t last long. One way or another, they would end up together again. Because the world needed them to. 


End file.
